Question about reliability

I've known Dell for a long time as having a reputation for being sub-par in both parts and customer service. Those of you who have owned a Dell, have you had any problems or complaints? A lot of people are recommending Dell laptops for a portable rig, and I'm trying to remain open to every option available. I know from personal experience that, 3 years ago at least, the Dell/Alienware tech support is god-awful. Has that changed? Thanks!

 

You can't simply make a blank statement about an entire OEM's build quality. You have to look at it model-by-model. For example, Dell's Insprions might not be so well built (maybe, haven't owned a recent one), but their Latitude and Precision laptops are very well built (being business-class laptops).

In general, if you're looking for something that's durable and well-built, forget about consumer-class altogether and go for a business-class laptop. In addition to the Latitude/Precision, there's also the Lenovo Thinkpad X/T/W line and the HP Elitebook/ZBook line.

 

I agree with your statements. I have had a Precision M4300 and an M4500. They are still going strong. Built like tanks. I would have an Alienware if could. My son has an XPS 15 and it is very nice as well.

 

I would second this. We've had a lot of Latitudes in my family, and never really had any really big issues. Some of the biggest "scandals" over the years - the capacitor or Nvidia plagues - were not exclusive to Dell, either.

 

Most consumer grade laptops regardless of the brand have mixed reliability. I have a Dell Inspirion that has lasted forever. I also have an HP laptop that died on me after a year. I do know Dell's business class laptops (latitudes) are reliable. We use them at our warehouse and they go through hell. There is no way the cheapy consumer grade laptops would last in that environment. I'm sure the same can be said of Lenovo Thinkpad's. Between Thinkpads and Dell Latitude's, I like Dell's because the accessibility to upgrade is easier. Thinkpad's however can be had at a lower price and seem to offer better displays for less.

 

I can attest to Precision sturdiness and top notch support. I'm wary of the Inspiron line though and the XPS has had one or two bad designs over the years. You should go at it on a case by case basis.

 

No major issues to speak of with my 7-year-old D830's and D630 Latitude that can be attributed to Dell. One of the D830's isn't recognizing the wireless card for some reason though, and the other laptop required its motherboard to be removed, and baked to reflow the Nvidia GPU. I am in the process of receiving a settlement from Nvidia which will more than compensate me for the cost of such.

On one of the D830s, and one of the D630s, they have been used in excess of 20,000 hours (actual hours of someone on them), and close to 10,000 power cycles. The original HDDs are long gone, the backlighting had to be replaced in one of them, but otherwise, all of the Dell-engineered components have stood up just fine. In fact, one of the laptops fell out of my bag while boarding an airplane and hit the concrete ramp -- picked it up, no damage, life carried on.

I just fear that a potential replacement won't be anywhere near as rugged. The E6400/E6500/E6410/E6510 series wasn't very inspiring durability-wise, but I might try out an E6440/E6540.

 

This is being brought to on my D630. It was used before I got it and in great physical condition. It and my Precision M440 have quickly become my 2 favorite laptops. I also own a Thinkpad T410 and X61T. The T410 workds great, but sits unused while the X61T sits in it's dock and runs my bitcoin miners.

I used to be a huge Thinkpad fan but then I was gifted a Latitude E6500, M4500 from a client and I quickly changed my tune. Thinkpads as mentioned earlier are wonderful machines. But this D630 has been through a lot with me in the last year that I have had it and it hasn't given me any problems. I repasted the CPU and blew out the fan on the day I got it. Runs the heck out of Linux Mint 17 and is cool and quiet. I had it running Windows 7 Pro and Linux Mint 16 in a dual boot setup. I then did an in place upgrade from 16 to 17 and haven't had any issues. In the last 6 months I haven't even rebooted it back into Windows to run updates.

Once I figure out how to completely back up my user profile so all my KDE settings stay intact, I plan on wiping the machine completely. I use the machine for work (IT industry), and for screwing around on the internet at home, reading e-books, doing some writing and watching videos.

Awesome little computer and extremely reliable since mine doesn't have an Nvidia GPU. It may be old in tech terms, but it's handled everything I have thrown at it with zero issues whatsoever.

To sum up: You shouldn't have too many problems with either the Latitude or Precision lines. Every now and then there might be a problem with a few machines, but that is not specific to Dell. Every manufacturer has issues from time to time. It happens when you produce a couple thousand items, some are sure to fail or have problems.

 

We use Dell's at work and in a warehouse environment. In my opinion Dell Latitudes are some of the most reliable laptops you can buy. Prosupport is excellent. Granted their consumer line might be different. With that said, I've had consumer grade HP's and Dell's (Inspirions) and the HP's never lasted that long. The Inspirions lasted me quite a long time even with a beating.The new Inspirions esspecially the 5000 series look really well made and come with some good specs for the price.

Thinkpads are also good, but for various reasons I just preferred Dell's (latitudes and precision). One reason is the ease at which you can access and switch out components on a Dell. With thinkpads you have to do things like pop off the keyboard etc. With a Dell latitiude its one or two screws, pop off the cover and boom easy access.

Thinkpad T440S component access
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5knRRHbBbk

Dell E7440 component access
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_tBJevj4j8

 

That is true. The Latitude and Precision lines are top notch machines.

 

Agreed with all above

Some seem to over look the fact that a 400 dollar laptop is not going to be as well built as a 1200 dollar or more laptop

You get what you pay for.

I used many brands of laptops but mostly Dell, and I have very good luck even with the cheaper inspiron laptops

But sooner or later they all go for a crap or just become too slow to use with newer software releases

IMO a laptop is a 2-3 year purchase than time for a new one.

 

Im with these guys, my precision workstations ( and workstations from a competitor ) are well enough built to make my MacBook Pro's look like fischer price toys and the support is unreal. you don't get NBD with Accidental on consumer toys

BUT I do know that many of the very cheap consumer models are like everyone elses ... fairly disposable and with normally lackluster support. even Aleneware onsite tends to have its issues as the contractors they send out many times don't know the machines at all and are flying blind it seems.

 

I have been through IBM Ts, Lenovos U series, Dells Inspirons 1564 i5, 8GB and HP DV 9 series..in my use, HP screen gone within 1 year and HP had replaced it as it the piece under global warranty. But, Dell 1564 never ever gave me any problem, and it's keeping going on and on super strong since 2010....I just changed the Battery and upgraded the SSD stuff...If I remember correct I took the Dell for around $600..I typically use Dell for around 14+H in a day.

So, I'm buying Dell 7537 16GB / i7 , again as I'm very happy with Dell laptops. some how Dells is much more reliable than HP at any time(in my opinion, but no offense to any one).

 

I have never had to deal with Dell customer service. I've had two issues over the years and that was my E6510 with the NVS 3100M driver failure and with the rear cover pieces on the E6410. I sold my D531 the other day (was going strong for a long time and still is!). My D630 ATG was pretty good. I currently have an E6520 (i5 dual core, 8GB ram, SSD, Intel 6300) and my only valid complaint is that the the edges seem to crack easily. I've only dropped two (E6410,E6510) and they still worked except the weird mouse movements...
Just picked a used E6530 off EBay so hoping it's decent... I've always been a Latitude fan but if my E6530 lets me down I'll move to a Precision or another ATG model....
I ha a longer laptop from work, it was an Inspiron... I swear the was a bendy model! Thing would warp like a dang twizzler!

Optiplex systems have been good to me as well! My good ol GX620's are still rolling with 60,000 hours on the original HDD. Rockin' that Intel P4 to the grave!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

There are two Dells. There is consumer Dell, the Dell you are familiar with. There is Business Class Dell, who has superb tech support, great warranty options (even Accidental Damage coverage) and there is also the next business day repairs where the technician comes to you. This superior Dell is done by buying Latitude or Precision laptops. I like this Dell a lot. I dislike the consumer Dell. I am presently running a Dell Latitude E 5510, a very reliable, well made, and easily upgraded laptop. Mine was rescued from the Town Dump, it had some keyboard issues and was a budget configuration with a Core I3, and 2GB RAM and DVD-ROM Drive. It had a 120GB hard drive, I have upgraded to 5GB RAM, a 500GB Hard Drive, and now have a DVD-RW drive installed. The Latitude performs well. And once cleaned, the bent keyboard repaired, and the missing key cap and all RAM and connectors reseated has been stable and reliable. And never let me down. And I have new ones at work, all reliable and great laptops. And will buy more. Those old Optiplex desktops are really durable and built like tanks and uber reliable. I have many in broadcasting service in automation duty, they just keep on running without issues year after year.